The present invention pertains to a system and method for controlling a position of an adjustable transfer device of a harvesting machine.
Forage harvesters are used in agriculture to harvest plants from a field, process them, and unload them by means of an adjustable transfer device into a container of a transport vehicle, which drives on a side or to the rear of the forage harvester. The position of the adjustable transfer device, normally arranged in the form of a spout, can be controlled by an operator by means of inputs on a hydraulic handle and actuators, normally hydraulic cylinders, in order to move the adjustable transfer device into a position in which the crop is unloaded into the container of the transport vehicle, but not onto the ground. Usually, the adjustable transfer device can be rotated around a vertical axis, tilted around a horizontal axis to adjust the height of its outer end, and an end flap can be rotated in order to define the exhaust direction of the crop from the transfer device.
To improve loading efficiencies, automatic solutions that use data on the relative position between the harvesting machine and the container have been proposed for controlling the transfer device. Such solutions can utilize an optical image capture device with an image processing system. However, image-based systems are not always able to identify the container correctly, in particular when a field is opened. For example, when opening a field, the forage harvester harvests a first strip of the field with standing crop on both sides such that the transport vehicle follows the forage harvester from behind. In this situation, the distance between the forage harvester and the container is relatively large. It would therefore be advantageous to develop an improved system and method for controlling the position of the transfer device when unloading material into a container positioned at the rear of the harvester.